Šešuoliai is a small town in central

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It is located just east of the Lake Šešuoliai. According to the Lithuanian census of 2011, it had 138 residents. The town's central square and street layout is protected as an urban monument. Its alternate names include Šašuoliai, Šešuolių, Shesholi, Sheshuolyay, Sušuoliai, Szeszole, and Szeszole.

History

The town was first mentioned in the Chronicle of

Hermann von Wartberge Hermann von Wartberge (died ca. 1380) was a chronicler of the Livonian Order. Born in Westphalia, Wartberge was a Catholic priest and author of the valuable Latin chronicle ''Chronicon Livoniale'' covering the history of the Livonian Crusade from ...

when it was attacked by the

Livonian Order The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561 it was a member of the Livonian Confederation. History The order was formed from the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword after thei ...

in 1334. Since the times of Grand Duke

Vytautas Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

, there was an estate, which became a property of

Kristinas Astikas Kristinas Astikas (1363 in Trakai – 1442 or 1444) was a leading Lithuanian nobility, Lithuanian noble and statesman of the Astikai family. Kristinas was a supporter and a companion of Vytautas the Great, his brother Sigismund Kestutaitis and ne ...

. Sometime before 1478, Šešuoliai passed to the

Bishop of Vilnius Bishops of Vilnius diocese from 1388 and archdiocese (archdiocese of Vilnius) from 1925:" ...

. Bishop Walerian Protasewicz sponsored construction of a Catholic church and establishment of a parish. Protasewicz also directed the priests to open a

parish school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The wor ...

, but it is known only from 1777. The settlement grew into a town and center of a

volost Volost (; ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Kievan Rus', the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the Russian Empire. History The '' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (1890–1907) states that the origins of the concept is unc ...

. The town burned down in 1656 during the Russo-Polish War. Šešuoliai recovered; the church was reconstructed in 1698 and 1751. The priests sponsored a parish school and a shelter for the poor. Šešuoliai Manor had a library and alcohol distillery. During the interwar years it was briefly owned by Jonas Variakojis. Today it is a school building. The town had 100 residents in 1814, 64 in 1845, 169 in 1890, 317 in 1923, 156 in 1959, 193 in 1970, 123 in 1979. In the summer of 1941, a number of Jews from the town were marched to -they were told

Želva Želva is a town in Ukmergė district municipality, Vilnius County, east Lithuania. According to the Lithuanian census of 2011, the town has a population of 457 people. History The town has a Catholic church and a synagogue. Želva is the birth ...

. They were murdered by local Lithuanian collaborators on the outskirts of the forest as soon as they left the

shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sesuoliai Towns in Vilnius County Towns in Lithuania Holocaust locations in Lithuania Ukmergė District Municipality